“Did you marry him just for protection?” River asks me, and I look at her with as much honesty as I can muster.
“In the beginning, I thought it was all for my protection. Then he told me he loved me. I looked into his eyes, and I believe him. He’s been searching for me so much. I could feel his emotions even when I couldn’t see him.”
She raises a brow. I push my glasses up my nose.
“These aren’t for style or hiding. The explosion I survived detached my retina and damaged my other eye. I needed surgeries, and I couldn’t see. Atlas came to the hospital and questioned me. I knew who I was at the time, but he couldn’t tell it was me because my face was covered in bandages.”
“What happened to you?”
I briefly explain as we change clothes. When she hands me Justice to hold while she changes out of her dress, I feel that familiar awkwardness and realize I haven’t asked Atlas whether he wants kids or not. By the time we make it out to the common area, the guys all have drinks. Maisy walks slowly behind me. I stop and turn to her.
“Are you okay?”
She shakes her head. “No. Can you help me?” she whispers softly.
I owe this woman my life. She still hasn’t told me how she found me, but she’s been there with me through so much. I don’t hesitate.
“Anything. You name it.”
“Take me to Alaska with you, but don’t tell Cronus.”
“Okay.” I don’t know how I’m going to tell my new husband, but I’ll make it work.
“Come here, wife.” Atlas’s throaty voice breaks me from my thoughts.
Atlas pulls me down onto his lap, his hand wrapped possessively around my thigh. Reaper pulls River into his lap after she puts the baby into a travel crib to sleep. Maisy sits next to Atlas and me on the sofa instead of the open spot beside Cronus. Hermes walks in, grabs a chair, and flips it backward to sit on.
“Okay, we told you we’d save you. When you married Titan today, you disappeared. Anyone who searches online for you, won’t find you. Just like if someone searched for Titan or me. We’re ghosts.”
“How?” Reaper asks, but I turn to look at my husband. He’s been keeping things from me.
“I know you work for the government,” I say.
“I do. But not just as a hacker.” He turns to his brother before looking back at me. He’s about to begin when Cronus stops him.
“Maybe Maisy should leave the room for this.”
“No,” I say, the firmness in my voice brokers no alternative. “If she can’t know, then I don’t want to hear it. She saved my life that night. I won’t have her cut out of this.”
“But the rules state that only spouses can know, and immediate family.”
“Then she’s my family,” I continue to argue.
Cronus stands up, and that’s when Maisy breaks. Words spill from her lips. “I was there. I was on that water the night of the explosion. I was there looking for his boat. I knew he was there. I’d finally found him, and I was going to get my revenge. I was going to make sure he didn’t have any other victims, and then I was going to kill him.” She’s on her feet standing up to Cronus. “I knew I could do it.”
“Snow—” he says, but she stops him.
“No. You shut up and sit down.”
But he doesn’t. She pokes him in the chest.
“I saw her jump as the explosion happened. Debris hit the boat and the water around me. I burned my arm.” She holds up the arm with the mark I’ve wondered about for months. “But I didn’t take my eyes off Stormy as her body flew through the air. She hit so hard I was sure she was dead. I watched her head snap back from the impact.”
Maisy pauses, and I stand up, trying to get to her. She turns toward me.
“You’d tried so hard to protect yourself, but it wasn’t enough. I struggled to hold you up because of the weight of the bulletproof vests on your body.” We are both back in that moment. “You begged me to let you die and then told me to save myself. I just couldn’t let you die. I was so dead inside that you cracked me open, and I had to help. It took me time, and was so hard, but I pulled you up over the side of the boat. I cut off the vests and dumped them into the water before I took us back to shore. I think I’m the reason your arm was broken. I had you over my shoulder and got you to the park, where I tried to lay you down carefully.”
I wrap my arms around her.
